


Brotherly Protection

by GalahadsGurl



Series: The Cahill Project [7]
Category: Mission: Impossible (Movies), Nikita (TV 2010), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Bourne Legacy (2012), The Cahill Project - Fandom
Genre: Big Damn Heroes, Cahill Circus Years, Circus, Found Family, Gen, Owen Elliot Bingo, The Unusual Avengers Legacy Protocol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 15:48:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19976575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalahadsGurl/pseuds/GalahadsGurl
Summary: Owen is there for Kenny during the Syria leave, when some of the carnie kids are picking on him and Will is still laid up in bed.





	Brotherly Protection

**Author's Note:**

> Hey GUYS!!!!! 
> 
> We have NOT forgotten this verse! I promise! We're just working hard on trying to resolve as much as we can, to start posting the NEW AND IMPROVED GRIMM TRUTH!!!!! XD We're so excited for the update to this much loved verse, and we can't wait to see what you think about it as well. The new Series Title will be COMPLICATED . . . and seriously, how on the nose is that, right? (Caiti's idea, and it's awesome!) 
> 
> Anyway, here's an Owen one shot for you guys, during the circus years, to alleviate some of the wait for the next chapter of the verse. 
> 
> Translations at the end as per usual! XD Enjoy and let us know what you think!? Thank you and you're amazing!

[](https://imgur.com/U9UKRFo)

Ever since realizing Marina teetered constantly on the verge of a total collapse, Owen Elliot began going out of his way to help her keep an eye on everyone and everything. He quickly realized how little she let people see the extent of her workload with the circus. This bled into her inability to ask for help from others, despite everyone constantly asking for her help. No wonder exhaustion took her so completely. 

If anything, the realization galvanized Owen into relieving her of as much of her work as he could. He would have tried to help with her work outside the rail car, but he'd never been good at the kinds of administrative duties Marina completed for the Carters - work she seemed to not only enjoy, but excel in. His inability to assist her outside the rail car, however, did not preclude him from taking over a great deal of the work inside the rail car. 

He knew how to cook, allowing him to take over feeding her boys in the mornings before school. Granted the food he put together tasted nothing like the talented creations she came up with, but that didn’t inhibit his ability to make their meals edible, delicious and nutritious. A word in Jason's ear about letting Marina sleep a little more brought the boys' attention to how tired their self-proclaimed sister looked, and any grumbles were quickly silenced. 

He walked the boys to their bus every day and made a genuine effort to pick them up again in the afternoons. After which, he returned to the rail car to stubborn the Boss into heading to the shower car for a wash. He endured the Boss' cussing, even as Owen goaded Cap into moving under his own power – they both knew these daily walks tended to be the only exercise the older man got as the pain in his knee continued to worsen. Cap had cussed him out before and would again; the only difference between then and now, Owen would have felt guilty as hell for cussing back. 

Little by little, though, Marina started to look less tired. Her shoulders straightened out, her head came up to its once proud height. She looked good . . . she looked **healthy**. Fond of the tiny spitfire, Owen only smiled and continued assisting her with her work. 

Then came the day Owen got held up finishing one of Marina’s chores, resulting in him running late to get the two youngest boys off their school bus. Normally being late didn’t matter all that much, as Jason rode the bus with them. However, that night Jason had been allowed to stay in town to celebrate his friend, Tommy’s, birthday after which he’d be spending the night at Billy’s – both Will and Marina had been thrilled the teenager had decided to take the opportunity to just be a normal kid for a bit. Currently, Owen ran as fast as he could through the grounds, but people kept blocking his way and forcing him to slow or stop altogether. Cussing steadily under his breath with each new person would have been an understatement - Owen felt sure no word currently existed for the horrors he cursed his interruptions with. 

He'd nearly made it to the bus stop when a bullet child nearly bowled him over. "Whoa!" he called, grasping the child's shoulders to steady them both. Blinking, he frowned to see Clint's tear-streaked features looking up at him. "Clint? What's wrong? Where's Kenny?"

Clint sniffled hard, reaching up to wipe his running nose on his shirt as he whimpered, "They're being mean to him!" 

As a rule, most people would get violent and loud when they were angry. Not Owen - years in foster care had trained him to turn his rage both silent and cold. Bending down to force eye contact with the distraught boy, the Army sergeant ordered firmly, "Show me." 

Nodding, Clint grabbed the man's hand and started to tow him at a run back the way he'd come. Apparently, Owen looked pissed off enough, people nearly dove out of their way until Kenny and his tormentors came into view. "What the **fuck** are you little shits doing!?" he roared, feeling his features contort as he watched one of the bullies shove Kenny into the dirt. 

Each of the boys froze at the new voice, the older boys searching for the voice even as Kenny scrambled backwards through the dirt. Insinuating himself between the toughs and the downed child, Owen turned to Clint and ordered, "Go find your sister."

The little boy bit his lower lip for a second, eyes flickering between Kenny and Owen, before rounding on his heel and bolting for the main encampment. Knowing Marina would handle the youngest of her boys, Owen crouched beside the second youngest of them. "You okay, kiddo?"

Kenny sniffled, eyes wide and scared as tears shone against cornflower blue eyes. A small and irrational part of Owen felt proud to see no tears tracks down his cheeks - kid had a heart of gold and nerves of steel. **Clearly** the Boss' little brother. The little boy took a deep breath, before his chin dipped in a small nod. One corner of the sergeant's mouth quirked upwards in approval, before he stood and offered Kenny a hand to his feet. 

Only after the second youngest of Will's brothers stood safely shielded by Owen's legs, did the man turn to face the others. A good portion of them had fled, sensibly afraid of getting in trouble though a few remained - the real instigators of the incidents, Owen would bet. One of them held Kenny's backpack, the tattered fabric ripped open and books strewn all over the dirt around them. "Pick it up," Owen ordered in a low, furious tone. 

The teenager sneered, "Make me."

One corner of Owen's lips twitched as he replied, "Gladly."

Taking a single step forward, he grabbed the kid by his leather jacket and lifted him completely off his feet without a hint of strain. Kid weighted maybe a hundred pounds easy – Owen used to carry more than that during basic without breaking a sweat. Satisfaction lanced through the rage at the wide-eyed look on the kid's face, the teen's hands coming up to pull at Owen's own hands. "Hey!" the kid spit out in indignant protest. 

"Didn't anyone ever tell you, hay is for horses?" the man snarked in response. "I'm going to say this one more time. Pick. It. Up." 

The kid struggled, hissing through his teeth, "You can't do this! Let me go!" 

"I'm pretty sure you can't pick on a kid younger than you either, but here we are." Using the jacket to jolt the teen quickly, Owen allowed his hands to curl tighter into the jacket, confining the bully a little as the leather pulled taut. "Now, I didn't stutter. Pick up Kenny's things . . . apologize . . . and get lost. And so help me, if I see you bullying him again . . ."

Marina's voice rang through the area, confusion in her tone as she called, "Owen? What's going on?" A moment later, Owen could see her in his peripheral view as she came alongside him. She held Clint by the hand, though she released him easy enough when the ten year old pulled away to join his brother behind Owen’s protection. A slow sigh answered her own question as her next words addressed the teenager in his grip. "Oh . . . it's you. What did you do, Lee?" 

The sergeant cocked an eyebrow at the teen, all but challenging him to lie to the woman. Shockingly, the younger man didn’t seem interested in even saving himself, snarling at the woman hatefully, “If he wasn't such a du . . ."

Whatever he would have said got lost when Owen dropped the kid to the hard packed dirt with a thud. The kid crashed like a stack of wedding china, the sudden action causing his knees and ankles to give out from under him. Owen smirked at the aborted giggle Marina let out, the two boys behind him gasping in surprise. "I'm sorry - you were saying?" the sergeant responded, cornflower eyes narrowed as he loomed over the downed teenager. 

"I know what he was saying," Marina replied with the overly cheerful tone Owen recognized from when she argued with the Boss but they both already knew she would be getting her way. "Pick up Kenny's things, Lee. Then we should go see your father, I think." The two adults stood shoulder to elbow, watching Lee go pale before moving to do as told. Then, Marina rounded on the rest of the teenagers. "If the rest of you lot don't want me to find your own parents and tell them what happened here, I suggest you find yourselves elsewhere, _da_?"

Apparently, there is no honor among bullies as only moments passed before all the other teenagers had fled the area, leaving Owen alone with Lee, Marina and the youngest of the Boss' brothers. Marina turned to Owen with a small relieved smile, hand squeezing his wrist silently. Turning his attention down to her, he cocked an eyebrow in question. She used her grip on his wrist to pull him down to her height, pressing a warm kiss to his cheek. "Thank you for looking after Kenny for me, Lucky."

"You're welcome," he agreed, turning to look for the two brothers. "You two okay?" 

Kenny gave a jerky nod, his jaw squared in the same stubborn way as his eldest brother. A small smirk curved Owen's lips as he turned back to Marina. "Why don't you take him back to his father? I'll take the boys back to the rail car."

Marina nodded briskly, leveling a fierce glare at Lee, ordering firmly, "Don't you move."

Owen smirked a little, watching the teenager quail in front of the woman. The Russian didn't even notice, turning away to face her own boys. Careful fingers curved along Kenny's cheeks, as she murmured to him in quiet Russian, with his response of " _Da, sestra_ " equally as soft. The two boys nearly dove into her arms as she offered them, letting her squeeze them as tightly as she wanted, before stepping back once she released them. " _Ya lyublyu tebya, domashniy_." 

" _Lyublyu tebya tozhe, Marishka_!" the two boys intoned together, letting her smooth her fingers through their hair before prodding Lee away. 

Owen crouched next to the two, reaching up to squeeze Kenny's shoulder warmly. "I'm proud of you, kid." 

"They were pushing me around." 

"I know - they're bullies, that's what they do. You were a tough kid, though, and you didn't let them see you cry," he reminded the boy with a fond smile. "Most of the time, that's what they want. They want to see what makes you break; it's what gives them the most satisfaction." 

Kenny sniffled miserably, one hand coming up to rub at his eyes with the hem of his sleeve. Beside him, his younger brother practically fumed as he spit out furiously, "I **hate** bullies!" 

"There is no person in this world deserving of your hate," Owen insisted with a small, sad smile. "Which is not to say you won't hate people - you will - but if you let your hatred consume you, you'll never be happy kiddo. If you absolutely must hate someone, pity them because they will never know what it is to know your respect and regard." 

Tone small and timid, Kenny spoke up in response to Owen’s assertion, "Will hates Ross." 

Owen's jaw tightened at the near silent announcement. Based on the horrified look he wore now, the kid hadn't meant to say that out loud. Considering Owen knew only what Will told him – plus what he could infer from his friend's nightmares - the sergeant didn’t feel he could argue with Will's feelings on the matter. Crouching in front of the boys, he forced Kenny's attention upwards to look him in the eyes. "When it comes to Ross - you can forget everything I just said. Some people don't deserve anything less than utter loathing," he promised with a smirk and a broad wink. 

The two boys giggled a little bit, their hands coming up to hide their mouths. Owen chuckled along with them, before pushing up to his feet and offering the two boys his hands. "Come on - let's go see your brother." 

Clint lunged for Owen's hand, both hands latching around the sergeant's wrist. Owen chuckled while carefully lifting him off his feet to the accompaniment of delighted giggles. As for Kenny, he remained more subdued as he slipped his palm into Owen's. Owen's fingers tightened in silent reassurance, prompting the boy to lean into him for support, before the three began the trek back to the rail car. 

It didn’t take long to arrive and once there, the two boys let Owen go. Running for their home, the two proceeded to shout their brother's name at the top of their lungs while scrambling inside. "Well, if he was sleeping," Owen muttered as he picked up his pace to lope after them, "he's not sleeping now." 

Hopping up into the rail car, he dodged around abandoned backpacks, books and lunchboxes to where he heard excited voices tumbling over top of each other behind the sliding door guarding his best friend. He arrived in the doorway at the same time Clint blurted, "You should have seen it, Will! Owen lifted Lee totally off the ground! Like an action figure . . . or James Bond!"

Owen chuckled at the clarification. Will had recounted his youngest brother's fascination with the titular spy more than once. Frankly, Owen felt flattered to be grouped in the same company as Clint’s favorite fictional hero. 

One shoulder braced against the door frame, Owen smiled to see the three brothers crowded together on Will's tiny twin bed. The Boss looked tired, leaning back against a practical mountain of pillows, his skin pale and wan. A broad smile had taken up residence on his lips though, lending sparkles to otherwise lifeless grey-blue eyes. The sergeant made a mental note to have the youngest boys spend more time keeping Will company after school and on the weekends – especially considering the improvement in his mood Owen could see now. 

Cornflower eyes scanned over the scene, amusement curving his lips as he took in the tableau. Kenny managed to tuck himself between his eldest brother's body and the wall, cuddling close for comfort after his scare, allowing Will's fingers to smooth along the length of the arm Kenny had thrown across the man’s waist. Both seemed to be taking comfort in the touch and closeness and Owen smirked a little to see more evidence of Will’s favoritism for the second youngest Grimm. As for Clint, the ten year old with a rambunctious streak a mile wide – he knelt at the end of the bed, little body bouncing along while he reenacted the incident. Sound effects colored his bright recounting of the situation with Lee; even knowing better, Owen would have thought he’d gotten into an action film style fight and won. The hero worship felt more than a little humbling. 

Will’s eyes rolled even as he laughed at his brother’s exuberant retelling, a small smile quirking his mouth. Exchanging an amused look between them, the two men returned their attention to the kid as Clint finally ran out of air . . . and events to recite. Clint flopped back across the foot of the bed in a graceless sprawl. The foot of Will’s good leg shifted, jostling him a little, as the older brother teased, "That sounds epically heroic. Sure you didn't forget anything, _bratishka_?" 

Clint's face contorted into a horrified expression as he rolled onto his belly, protesting insistently, "Will! It was awesome! Honest!" 

Cap's reply all but glowed with fond laughter as he insisted, "I believe you!" Those eyes moved to take in Owen at the door, his wide grin softening into something grateful as he insisted, "The hero of the day." One of Owen's eyes narrowed at the sight of Will's grip tightening a fraction around Kenny's shoulders. There was fervent relief in his tone as Cap insisted, " **Thank** you."

Owen returned the look with a small smile. “Your family is my family, Boss.”

**Author's Note:**

> Translations: 
> 
> da/net - yes/no  
> sestra - sister  
> Ya lyublyu tebya - I love you  
> domashniy - pets (one of Marina's nicknames for her younger boys collectively)  
> Lyublyu tebya tozhe - I love you too  
> bratishka - little brother


End file.
